E 673 

.K29 DOMINICA 

Copy 1 



SPEECH 



HON. WILLIAM D. KELLEY, 



OF F»EISr]Sr8YLV_A:N^IA^, 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JIJTUAEI 21, 1871. -y' 



W ASHING T N : 

F. & J. RIVES & gf:o. a. bailey, 

RKPORTKP.S AND PRINTKItS OK TIFn OKIi.VTKS OF (X1N0RKSS. 

1S71. 



DOMINICA 



The House having under consideration the; joint 
resolution (S. R. No. 262) authorizing the appoint- 
ment of commissioners in relation to the republic 
of Dominica — 

Mr. KELLEYsaid: 

Mr. Speaker: The desire of President 
Grant to acquire direct trade with and a foot- 
ing upon San Domingo, the richest of the 
West India islands, is inspired by a keen per- 
ception of the commercial requirements of 
the country, and sanctioned by the action of 
Washington and his most illustrious success- 
ors in the presidential office. On the 1-lth 
of October,.1789,les3 than six months after his 
inauguration, Washington addressed an auto- 
graph letter to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, who 
was then representing us in Europe, in which 
he said : 

"Let it be strongly impressed on your mind that 
the privilege of carrying our productions in our 
own vessels to their islands, and bringing in return 
the productions of those islands to our ports and 
markets, is regarded here as of the greatest import- 
ance." 

Time and observation increased Washing- 
ton's appreciation of the importance of this 
trade to our country. He adhered to the 
point with the tenacity which characterizes 
the efforts of President Grant. And in his 
letter of instructions to Mr. Jay, our minister 
to England, nearly five years after his letter 
to Mr. Morris, in May, 1794, he said : 

"If to the actual footing of our commerce and 
navigation in the British European dominions could 
be added the privilege of carrying directly from the 
United States to the British West Indies, in our hot- 
tomi generally, or of certain sped fiedhurdenn. the articles 
which bu the act of Parliament, (23 Geo. III., chap. 6,) 
may he carried thither in British bottoms and of bring- 
ing others thence directly to the United States in Amer- 
ican bottoms, this would afford an acceptable basis 
of treaty for a term not exceeding fifteen years." 

It was not, however, permitted the Father 
of his Country to secure to its people this itn 



portant commercial privilege, even as to a few 
articles and in vessels of limited tonnage. 
Presidents Adams, Jefferson, Madissn, Mon- 
roe, and John Quincy Adams made the same 
object a leading feature of their respective 
administrations, but with like want of success. 
It is possible that the younger Adams might 
have succeeded bilt for the fact that what Wash- 
ington and the others had sued for as a priv- 
ilege he demanded as a right. By thus placing 
the negotiation upon a new footing he failed 
as the others had done. At the end of more 
than forty years, however, President Jackson 
succeeded in accomplishing this most desirable 
object; and to his administration belongs the 
glory of its consummation and the immense 
and immediate expansion of our commerce 
that ensued. 

Let me pause for a moment to ask why the 
fathers of the country were so anxious for the 
privilege of direct trade with the West Indies, 
and why the European Powers who had domin- 
ion over the archipelago so persistently refused 
to accord us the privilege of direct commerce 
with our neighbors, of whose productions we 
have ever been such large consumers ? It was 
because those Governments saw, as clearly as 
the statesmen of our country, the importance 
to the American Republic of unrestricted trade 
with the islands of the Caribbean sea, whose 
waters wash our shores. 

The fathers of the country having been forced 
into armed rebellion by the restrictions imposed 
by the Parliament of GreatBritain upon the de- 
velopment of our natural resources and manu- 
facturing and commercial power, had learned 
that international trade conducted exclusively 
along parallels of latitude, and consequently 
between nations producing the same commodi- 
ties, could not be generally profitable to the 
people of both countries, and must, if left to the 
government of the laws of trade, uninfluenced 
by a tariff (if compensatory duties, be ultimately 



(5 



BFrKOTOK TUB AC>)LisrriON irroN .sLAvr.:;v. 

Some of my fiiciiils who remember the 
f'liergy with which I have hilhcrlo opposed llie 
acquisition ofsoiiihorn territory may deem ine 
inconsistent in advocating earnestly, as I do, 
the acquisition of San Domingo; but if they 
will listen for a moment they will, I think, per- 
ceive that I could not maintain my consistency 
and do otherwise. Believing, as I have long 
done, that commerce, to be generally and en- 
duringly profitable to both parties, must cross 
parallels of latitude and not run upon them, 
I have believed that it v/ould add to the com- 
pleteness of our country to acquire tropical 
or semi-tropical territory with the people of 
which we might exchange, under our own rev- 
enue system, without the interposition of du- 
ties, the products of our northern fields and 
workshops for the many commodities which 
they produce but which we cannot, and of 
which we are large consumers. But, sir, not- 
withstanding these convictions and the fact 
that I was a member of the Democratic party, 
I opposed the anne.xation of Texas, was hos- 
tile to the armed occupation of Yucatan, as 
suggested by President Polk in his message 
ef April 29, 1848, and regarded the Ostend 
manifesto and other efforts to acquire Cuba, 
v/hether pacific or hostile, as outrages upon 
our republican institutions and humanity. 

I did not stop to consider the constitution- 
ality of these measures. They were projected 
in pursuance of precedents which, though con- 
fessedly indefensible on constitutional grounds, 
had vindicated themselves to the judgment of 
the country, the acquisition of the Louisiana 
territory and the Floridas. My hostility to the 
measures alluded to did not, therefore, rest 
on constitutional scruples, but upon the fact 
that they were efforts to extend the area of 
slavery and to perpetuate that accursed insti- 
tution. They were all favorite measures of 
the Democratic party, whose degenerate and 
puerile leaders array themselves against the 
acquisition of San Domingo, and resisted with 
all their power the ordering of a commission 
K) inquire into the propriety of accepting 
dominion over it. Absurdly — I had almost 
Raid impiously — they claim to be the success- 
ors of JeQ'erson and .Jackson, but do not 



believe in the expansion of our country and 
its manifest destiny. They are purblind and 
without faith in the capacity of man for self- 
government, and I apprehend that they and 
I have changed grounds on this question for 
the same reason. They resist the acquisition 
of San Domingo because it wiil extend the 
area of freedom and give republican institu- 
tions, common schools, a free press, our laws, 
language, and literature, and all the appli- 
ances of modern civilization to a tropical peo- 
ple, most of whom are of African descent, 
while I give it my support for this as chief 
among a thousand reasons, each one of which 
is, in my judgment, conclusive. 

The people of the United States have waded 
through a sea of blood and incumbered them- 
selves and their posterity with mountains of 
debt to abolish human slavery and make our 
institutions throughout our broad limits homo- 
geneous and harmonious with the fundamental 
principles that underlie them. And yet, sir, we 
are to- day the support and buttress of slavery 
wherever it exists upon the continent or islands 
of America, as we must continue to be until 
we shall acquire tropical territory, on which 
to grow coffee and sugar, and tobacco equal 
to that of Cuba. By the acquisition of San 
Domingo, and by'no other peaceable means, 
wo can overthrow both slavery and Spanish 
supremacy in Cuba, for we consume fully 
seventy per cent, of her exports, every pound 
of which might be pi-oduced by free labor in 
San Domingo. 

Few gentlemen have probably considered 
the question in this connection, and I beg 
leave to invite attention to a fev/ fiicts illustra- 
tive of its importance. But before doing so, 
permit me to suggest that San Domingo pro- 
duces large-grained white coffee equal to that 
of Java, and vastly superior to the green cof- 
fee of Brazil, sugars, molasses, and melada 
equal in quality to those of Cuba, and tobacco 
which compares favorably with the best smok- 
ing tobacco from the finest fields of that 
island ; and that were the production of these 
articles stimulated by the sense of security 
that would be imparted by our acquisition of 
her territory and by the admission of her pro- 
ductions to our port^ free of duty, it would 
cause the transfer of the American and other 



foreign capital now employed in Cuba to San 
Domingo, and thereby people the latter and 
increase her productions and deprive Cuba 
of the power to support the Spanish army, 
which now holds her in subjection, or to make 
the contributions toward the support of the 
Spanish monarchy, which now regards her as 
its most profitable appendage. 

Cuba owes its commercial importance to the 
tact that San Domingo has been distracted and 
desolated by war and oppression from the year 
of its discovery to the present date. Hispan- 
iola, as San Domingo was first called, was 
once the most fertile, most highly cultivated, 
and most productive of all the West India 
islands; but she has relapsed into a wilder- 
ness, and would present to the enterprise that 
would seek her fields, under a sense of secur- 
ity derived from American law and admin- 
istration, as fertile and virgin a soil as she 
did to the followers of Columbus nearly four 
centuries ago. 

The population of the entire island in 
1492-93 was believed to exceed a million, but 
such were the cruelty and rapacity of the Span- 
iards that an enumeration made in 1507 shov/ed 
that the native population had been reduced 
by the exhausting labors demanded from the 
enslaved natives in the unventilated gold 
mines, and the barbarous means by which 
their labor was enforced, to sixty thousand. 
Another enumeration, made by an officer knswn 
as the distributor of Indians, in 1514, showed 
that the number had been reduced to fourteen 
thousand; and the history of the island from 
these early dates to the close of the v/ar be- 
tween Hayti and Dominica is but a contin- 
uous story of wrong, outrage, and desolation. 
After consulting the best authorities to whicli 
I have access, I estimate the entire population 
of the island at this time at from one million 
to twelve hundred thousand, of which number 
not more than twenty per cent, are within th^ 
limits of San Domingo. 

The natives welc'omed Columbus on his rrturn 
from Spain with presents, consisting chiefly of 
great quantities of gold, and in the course of 
his progress through the island, in 1495, in 
grateful return he imposed tribute on all of 
them above the age of fourteen, requiring each 



one to pay quarterly a certain quantity of gold 
or twenty-five pounds of cotton. It is record- 
ed by Captain James BIrney, in his History of 
the Buccaneers of America, that to prevent 
evasion of paying this tribute Columbus caused 
"rings or tokens to be produced, in the nature 
of receipts, which were given to the islanders 
on their paying the tribute, and any islander 
found without such a mark in his possession 
was deemed not to have paid, and proceeded 
against." 

In a recent conversation with a!i intelligent 
merchant of Philadelphia, who has spent many 
years in Cuba and San Domingo, I said to 
him, " What would be the effect of American 
occupation of San Domingo, or its acquisition 
by us, upon the productions and commerce 
of the island?" To which he replied: 

"In five years from the occurrence of sucli an 
event San Domingo will have resumed her former 
station among the producing and commercial coun- 
tries of the world, and will have become the weal tli- 
iest and most prosperous island in the Archipelago. 
Under such new circumstances it will far exceed the 
Cuba of to-day. Sau Domingo is in my judgment 
worth five times what Cuba is worth. Prior to the 
revolution of 17S9 and 1790, San Domingo was the 
wealthiest American colonial possession owned by 
any nation. The French part was immensely pros- 
perous although the French had kept it but a few 
years. I have not the figures at hand, but, having 
examined them, assure you thatthe exports of coffee, 
tobacco, sugar, indigo, cocoa, and other productions 
sustain my assertion. The Spanish side was also 
very prosperous. In fact, the whole island was in a 
prosperous condition, and the mines were yielding 
large quantities of gold. Since the revolution of 
1790, when the blacks expelled the French froraSan 
Domingo, the condition of the country has retro- 
graded, and very little progress has since been made 
in Ilayti." 

In view of these facts we may certainly 
regard the soil of Dominica as virgin, and by 
embracing it under our jurisdiction do for 
the wealth and commerce of the world what 
Columbus and their Catholic majesties might 
have done could they have founded a liberal 
republic v.'hose affi.irs should be so adminis- 
tered as to promote the welfaie of ail the 
inhabitants of the island. 

The march of our prosperity has marked 
and measured the prosperity of the ruling 
classes in Cuba. In 1820 she produced but 
fifty thousand tons of sugar, and in 18G8, to 



^ 



8 



meet our increased wants, she produced nine 
hundred thousand tons. The increase has 
always been in proportion to the increasing 
market our country aftordcd. It was to sup- 
ply our market that she maintained the slave 
trade with Africa, and patronized the equally 
inhuman and murderous traffic in coolies. 
Enriched by our patronage she employs to- 
{^y both of these execrable agencies in our 
service. Let me prove this. She ships her 
sugar in the following proportions: seventy 
per cent, directly to the United States; tv,-enty- 
two per cent, to Great Britain direct, and to 
Falmouth or a market; two per cent, to Spain, 
(a largo estimate;) and six per cent, to other 
countries of Europe and to South America. 

I have said, sir, that Cuba has maintained 
and does maintain the slave trade and the 
coolie trade in order to supply our wants. 
More and worse than this, prior to 18G1 she 
imported her victims chiefly under our flag, 
though our lav^ declared the slave trade to be 
piracy. Spain had bound herself by treaty 
with England to abolish the slave trade, for 
doing which she received what she deemed 
ample compensation; yet slaves continued to 
be introduced clandestinely under the Spanish 
flag, under the administration of every captain 
general ; but the favorite flag of the slave-trader 
was the stars and stripes, because vessels bear- 
ing it were exempt from search by British 
cruisers on the coast of Africa. The execu- 
tion of the slave-trader, Gordon, at New 
York, in 18G1, put a stop to the use of our 
fl;ig 10 cover this unholy traffic. Since then 
cD'.nparaiively few slaves have been introduced 
into Cuba, but the number of coolies imported 
annually has greatly increased. 

OL'K ttESPONSIBILITV, AND DOW WR Jf.VY AVOID IT. 

Such are our responsibilities ; and it is now 
in our power to control the whole subject, not 
by ravishing Na'ijoth's vineyard, but by con- 
firming his title thereto and enabling him to 
enjoy in serene confidence his vine and Gg- tree. 

The duty of two cents a pound imposed by 
our laws on raw sugar and the duties on mo- 
lasses, melada, tobacco, and other productions 
common to both islands would make it so much 
more profitable to produce them in San Do- 
mingo than in Cuba that tho Spanish despots 



and native slaveholders who govern that island 
would have no need for new victims, but would 
find a steadily diminishing market for the crops 
grown by those they now hold in bondage. 

The dulies on imports from Cuba into this 
country during the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1870, all of which could have been raised by free 
labor in San Domingo, amount to $32,208,750, 
and the value of the imports was $52,904,220. 
This statement embraces only sugar, molasses, 
melada, tobacco, and cigars, which, though the 
principal, are not our only imporls from Cuba. 
The whole could have been grown in San 
Domingo, together with immense supplies of 
colTee, cocoa, indigo, and the valuable woods 
of the island. The following table shows the 
amount and value of each of the commodities 
named that we imported from Cuba during 
the last fiscal year, the value thereof, and the 
duty to which they were subject at three cents 
per pound on sugar, eight cents per gallon 
on molasses, and three cents per pound on 
melada: 

Qiiantitii. Value. Dull'. 

Sugar, lbs 801.033,313 633,086,448 $24,049,000 

Molassos, gala. 45.084,152 9,696,783 3,606,732 

Melada, lbs 35.828,771 1,247,240 1.074.863 

Tobacco and 

cigars 3.933,715 3.538,15'. 



$52,904,225 $32,263,750 



1 need noi further elaborate this point to 
merchant or philanthropist, for every man who 
will dispassionately consider the facts 1 have 
presented will admit that, were San Domingo 
free, and her people strengthened by the sense 
of security that would be derived from Amer- 
ican protection against Uaytian or other inva- 
sion, and were her savannas and hill-sides 
cultivated, as they then might be, with mod- 
ern appliances, under the control of American 
enterprise, slavery would cease to be valu- 
able to Cuba, and Spain would be divested of 
interest in her as a colony. This is the age 
of commerce, and the lav/s of trade are in- 
vincible. By accepting San Domingo we can 
peaceably emancipate the whole archipelago, 
and secure to those of our people whose con- 
stitution fits them for tropical homes posses- 
sion and the peaceable enjoyment of tha most 
proiiuctive island of tho world. 



9 



EXTENT TO WHICH WE SUPPORT SLAVERY IN FOREIGN 
COUNTRIES. 

I have said tliat, notwilbstanding the sacri- 
fices we made to abolish slavery, we are its sup- 
port and buttress throughout the world. We 
cannot ascertain precisely the total amount 
of slave products imported into this country 
during the last fiscal year, but I find enough 
in the four leading articles mentioned, together 
with coffee, to demonstrate the truth of my 
proposition, and to show, by the amount of 
duties collected from these articles, that if we 
could produce them within the limits of our 
revenue system, as San Domingo would be 
if accepted by us, we could overthrow slavery 
on every island of the archipelago, and so far 
impair its value in Brazil as to make eman- 
cipation probable. The value of slave-grown 
productions imported from Cuba, Porto Rico, 
p.nd Brazil during that year was $79,414,0-19, 
being seventeen per cent, of the entire im- 
ports of the country, and the amount of duties 
on them $45,930,374, or nearly twenty-four per 
cent, of the total duties collected for the year. 

The following statement exhibits the amount 
and value of the articles named which we im- 
ported from slave-labor countries during the 
last fiscal year, and the amount of duties levied 
thereon. Of those from Cuba, which I have 
already given in detail, T refer but to the value 
,and amount, of duties : 

Cuba: Value. Duty. 

Total .*52,964.22o $22,268,750 

Porlo Ilico : 

Sugar, lbs $130,706,182 6.081,072 3,921.185 

Molasses, gals... 7.119.928 2.046.172 569.594 

Brazil : 

CoSFee. IbL' 183,413,456 18,322,580 9.170.672 



179,414,049 



§45,930, 201 



As 1 have said, Mr. Speaker, San Domingo 
is capable of producing an equal amount of 
all the commodities embraced in this state- 
ment; and she can do this without impairing 
her capacity to espo<rt mahogany, satin, and 
other woods for furniture, indigo, and a con- 
siderable list of' dye-woods. That portion of 
the island which belongs to the Dominican 
Republic could support a population of five 
million people and an immense export trade, 
yet the exports from the entire island, em- 
bracing Hayti and San Domingo, to this 
■ country for the last year were but $979,055, 



of which $419,700, or about four ninths, came 
came to us in foreign vessels. The people of 
Dominica are not only without machinery, but 
without the simplest tools for agriculture or 
the arts. There is not an iron plow within the 
limits of the republic nor the simplest form of 
a saw-mill, though among the leading exports 
are mahogany, lignum-vite, logwood, fustic, 
lance, satin, and other woods; and it is impos- 
sible to estimate what would be the value and 
extent of the productions of the country under 
the application of modern improvements in 
science, agricultural machinery, and the pro- 
cesses for manufacturing sugar and reducing 
fine woods to slab and veneer, or the stimu- 
lus that would be given to American ship- 
building, the production of agricultural and 
other implements, and to our carrying trade 
and commerce, by the development of the 
resources of this island by Anjcrican intelli- 
gence and enterprise. 

F.ILSK POSITION OP THE DEMOCRACY ON TOieSOBJECT. 

Those who lead the Democratic party and 
claim to have inherited the patriotism and wis- 
dom of Jefferson and Jackson cannot see that 
any advantage is to result to the country from 
the acquisition of San Domingo. They can- 
not even tolerate inquiry into the propriety 
thereof. They dread territorial expansion, and 
would rather let our languishing commerce 
perish and the ceuntry remain tributary to Spain 
and Brazil than incur theriskof accepting San 
Domingo from a people who seek peace and 
security by adopting our institutions and iden- 
tifying their fortunes and fate with ours. 
Could anything be more absurd than the pre- 
tentious claim of these timid and purblind 
beings to be inspired by the spirit of Jefferson 
and Jackson. 

There was never a day in the life of the Dem- 
ocratic party, before slavery was abolished, on 
which it would not gladly have availed itself of 
this opportunity to secureunrestricted and direct 
trade with the West India islands, and to plant 
upon the grandest of them an outpost of our 
country as a matter of convenience and safety 
in time of war. Worthy and respected as was 
General Lewis Cass, he was never regarded as 
among the far-sighted and courageous leaders 
of his party. There were always those who 
would have gladly elevated him to the Prcei- 



10 



(lency, yet few regarded him as jireeininently 
qualified to lead public opinion or shape the 
destinicB of a nation. lie was cliaracterized 
by a broad measure of good, practical sense, 
l)ut not by keen foresight; yet he foresaw 
more of the results of the last quarter of a 
century than these men, who have lived 
through it and witnessed all its stirring events, 
are even now able to see. 

The influence that steam was to exercise in 
ocean commerce and naval warfare had been 
but dimly foreshadowed in 1818 f yet, on the 
10th of May. in that year. General Cass ad- 
dressed the Senate of the United States in 
support of Mr. Poll;'s proposition to take 
armed occupation of Yucatan, in order, as was 
their theory, to prevent England from getting 
possession thereof, and to countervail her influ- 
ence in setting up the Mosquito king. There 
had then been no contest between Ericsson's 
Monitor and the Merrimac. France and Eng- 
land had no liavy of ponderous iron ships. 
'Jhe bulky commerce of the world was still 
carried in wooden vessels, under sail. Yet 
General Cass foresaw what, as I have said, the 
blind leaders of the Democratic party are in- 
capable of perceiving today. They have not 
yet discovered that depots for fuel are a para- 
mount necessity for commercial nations, and 
that without them steam navigation must be 
circumscribed and incQicient : but in the speech 
to which I have referred General Cass said: 

"The application of steam-power to armed vessels 
has introduced an improvement which may occasion 
:'.n entire change in naval warfare. It is difficult to 
I'srcsee its conscQucncc?, or the effect it may hereafter 
produce. One thing, however, is certain, that armed 
?lcam vessels, of a. size and draught suitable to the 
navig.'ition tbcy are designed to encounter, will take 
11 dfcisivo part in uav:il oiicrations. Depots for fuel 
become, therefore, of paramount necessity for com- 
incrciiil nations. Without them their steam navi- 
gation will bo circumscribed and inefficient. With 
them, to furnish the supplies required to vessels as 
they call for them, the world may bo circumnavi- 
patcd, and steam-power everywhere used. Now, sir, 
we have no places of deposit anywhere but at home, 
and England has them everywhere, She has select- 
ed her positions for that purpose with that foresight 
which marks her character, and she will keep them 
at all times supplied with abundance of necessary 
fuel. Tho advantages she will derive from this sys- 
tem of policy aro suQiciently obvious, and we must 
depend upon our energy to meet them as best we can 
when the proper time comes." 



Mr. Speaker, the acquisition of San Do- 
mingo would not only increase our commerce 
and enable us to rely mainly upon a volunteer 
navy for war purposes, but it would give us 
such a depot and coaling station as could be 
established on no other island in the Carib- 
bean sea. The Bay of Samana is unequaled 
in extent, beauty, and safety, and the hills 
around it are filled with coal suitable for the 
purposes of the workshop and the generation 
of steam, and crowned with wood fit for naval 
purposes. Man's experience discloses uo 
want for which nature has not made ample 
provision; and the Bay of Samana, in its ex- 
tent and safety and the mineral deposits and 
forests of timber which surround it, seems 
to have been preordained for a great naval 
station, and one, too, that would give to the 
nation to whom it might belong control of the 
passages through the archipelago of our south- 
ern coast and of the shores of Central and the 
northern part of South America. 

The scheme of the pro-slavery Democracy 
of 18-18 for the armed occupation of Yucatan 
having failed, and the necessity for a station 
for supplies and repairs having pressed itself 
upon the attention of successive Administra- 
tions, President Pierce ordered then Captain 
now General George B. McClellan to repair to 
the Dominican republic, inquire into and report 
upon the fitness of its bays and harbors for such 
a station. A copy of his report is before me. 
It is dated August 27, 185-1. lie says he found 
three good harbors, of which Samana was the 
best, the others being Mansanilla and Ocoa. 
He found excellent oak and yellow pine fit for 
use in naval construction, and palm and other 
trees adequate for the construction of durable 
wharves in a tropical sea. One of these, the 
name of which escaped his memory before he 
made his report, he learned was peculiarly 
free from liability to attack by worms, the 
special foe to timber when exposed to salt 
water at tropical temperature. He also found 
bituminous coal in many places, and certifies 
that specimens thereof that had been exposed 
to the weather for three years burned well. As 
to the fitness of Samana for such a station, he 
says: 

"The best harbors in the republic of Dominica .are 
those of Samana, Mansanilla, and Oooa. 



11 



"Ocoa, nearly in the middle of the soutbern coast 
of the island, is entirely out of tbo usual track of 
navigation, and commands nothing. Mansanilla, on 
the northern coast, about two thirds of its length to 
the westward, is too far from the Mona passage, is 
somewhat out of the way from the passage between 
Cuba and Ilayti, and is badly situated with regard 
to the line of reefs extending eastward from the 
Inagua islands, besides having dangerous reefs near 
its entrace. 

"The h.arbor of Samana is almost directly in the 
route of all vessels using the Mona passage, and gives 
complete command of that very important thorough- 
fare, which is the most safely approached, and most 
advantageous in its position with regard to the Span- 
ish main and Caribbean sea of all the frequented 
passages. 

"Having reason to believe that it possessed all the 
requisite properties, and great advantages over the 
others with regard to health and defense, I devoted 
all my time and attention to its examination. The 
bay of Samana, extending some thirty miles from 
east to west, and from nine to twelve north and south, 
is formed bj'thenarrow peninsulaof thesame name. 
The entrance for vessels dr.awing more than eight 
feet is contracted to two thousand yards by a broad 
coral reef extending from the southern shore of 
tho bay. At the no/th point of the reef are five 
keys, thelargest containing about one hundred acres, 
the smallest a mere sand-bank ; the passage for ves- 
sels lies between the most northern key and the 
peninsula. Tho largest ships of tho line can enter 
thisb.iy with theutmost case, and find secure anchor- 
age within, entirely out of cannon range from ves- 
sels outside the keys. 

"The .anchorages and small habors on the north- 
ern side of the bay near the entrance are very good, 
and have excellent holding-ground. The only objec- 
tion to this bay arises from the rareness of land 
brecKesat certain seasons of the ycaratleast; so that 
it is difiicult for large vessels to sail out, as the chan- 
nel is somewhat narrow for them to beat through. 
This difficulty can be remedied by tho use of a steam- 
tug, by kedging, or warping. Were the channel well 
'buoyed out,' it is probable that a ship of the lino 
could, in case of necessity, beat out. With respect to 
steamers, there is no obstacle in tho way of their enter- 
ing or leaving at any time in the day or night. The 
peninsula of Samana is almost an island; for at its 
base the land is low and swampy, much cut up by 
inlets, and overgrown with mangrove bushes. The 
approach from the mainland is for a league and a 
half over a narrow, winding path, practicable for 
only one man at a time, partly under water to the 
armpits, and in many places overhead in mud and 
water on either side. 

"The peninsula itself is high and broken ; the hills 
ranging from a few hundred to two thousand feet in 
altitude, exceedingly steep, very irregular in direc- 
tion, and interspersed with narrow, sloping valleys, 
thewhole covered with a dense growth of underbrush, 
vines, .and timber. It is well watered by smal 1 moun t- 
ain streams. The predominant rock is a limestone. 



generally jiorous.but often occurring of such a qual- 
ity as to form a good building-stone in that climate, 
and in localities convenient for working." 

But General McClellan's report is not the 
only evidence of the wisdom and patriotism 
of President Grant's effort to acquire San 
Domingo furnished by Democratic Adminis- 
trations while statesmen of sagacity were at 
the head of that party. It appears that Yuca- 
tan was not sufficient to satisfy the ambitious 
desires of Mr. Polk and his administration. In 
February, 1845, he sent Mr. John Hogan as 
"the special agent and commissioner of the 
United States to the islandof San Domingo or 
Hayti." The duties enjoined on him were 
"particularly to inquire into and report upon 
the present condition, capacity, and resources 
of the new republic of Dominica." Mr. Hogan 
having performed his duties made a much more 
elaborate and intelligent report than General 
McClellaTi submitted to President Pierce, nine 
years later. Let rae quote his description of 
the island and its probable future relation to 
the international affairs of the world. In open- 
ing his report he said : 

"The island known under the several names of 
Ilispaniola, San Domingo, and Ilayti is, as is vrell 
known, in extent among the largest, and in fertility 
of soil, character, and quantity of its productions, 
one of the most important of the islands of the "West 
Indies. The central position whish it occupies in 
that archipelago, separated from Cuba by a channel 
of only forty miles, intermediate between Jamaica 
on the west and Porto Rico on the east, its vicinity 
to the corareevcial ports of the United States, the 
provinces of Honduras aTid Yucatan, and what has 
been long known as the Spanish main of South 
America, confer upon it a political importance 
second only to its commercial. In the hands of n 
poxcerful and enterprising nation its influence rooidd 
he felt in all iJie ramifications of human concerns. 

" This island is again peculiar from the number and 
capacity of its harbors. The entire coast is studded 
with deep and valuable ports, and intersected with 
rivers penetrating far into the interior, which render 
all its resources, natural and industrial, available in 
augmenting the power and extending the commerce 
of the nation which might either acquire the power 
of sovereignty over it or become connected with it 
in the relations of mutual independence. A glance 
at the map will exhibit at once to your eye theinest- 
imable value of this island, and its commanding 
position in a military and commercial point of view. 
Independently of itsown internal resources, mineral 
and agricultural, its position renders this magnifi- 
cent island one of the most admirable positions 
which the world can exhibit for a commercial em- 



12 



poriuKi. lU vast and Eccurc bays vfoul J afford shel- 
ter for the congregated navies of the world. Its 
Bitiiation renders it ncce?sil;le to Iho most important 
marts of this continent." 

If, ns Mr. Ilogan prctlicls, the influence of 
San Domingo is to be felt in all the raniiGca- 
tions of Liimr.n concerns, had it not belter l)e 
under the inspiration of American republic- 
ani.sm than as the colony of any of the des- 
potic or reactionary Govcrnmeuts of Europe? 
That she may put forth her influence wisely and 
for the good of mankind I would give her our 
literature, laws, and institutions, and through 
her common schools begin the v/orlc of making 
our language that of the people of the entire 
archipelago. 

But let U3 hear further from President Polk's 
commissioner, Mr. Ilogan, as to the importance 
of the geographical position and the grandeur 
and variety of her material resources. Recur- 
ring to the subject, and speaking first of the 
whole island, he says : 

"Tho island, which has of lato years rc'^umcd in 
the hands of the blacks its original name of Haiti, 
or llayti.was usually known as San Doiuinso by the 
English and French, and as IlisiJaniolaby the Span- 
iards. It lies about southeast of tho island of Cuba, 
from which it is separated by a channel of about 
forty miles in width; castwardly from Jamaica, 
which is at tho distanccof one hundred miles; west- 
wardly fiom Porto Rico, distant thirty miles. It is 
directly south from tho city of New York, which is 
about fifteen hundred miles removed ; from Charles- 
ton and Savannah, about nine hundred miles; 
within a few days' s;iil of Nicaragua, Yucatan, and 
Honduras, and equally convenient to Trinidad and 
tho northern shores of tho South American couti- 
noat. This commanding position, in both a political 
and commercial point of view, is materially .strength- 
ened by tho number and capacity of its harbors. 
Tho Day ofSamana, on tho eastern extremity of tho 
island, trends into the interior for a depth of eight 
leagues, with a proportionate width, and is capabio 
of holding all tho navies of tho world. The char- 
acter of the shores of this bay and the noble timber 
which covers the adjacent country furnish inex- 
haustible means for repairing or even building 
«hip3 of every dimension. This island c.\tends, iu 
its greatest length, nearly, from cast to west, a dis- 
tance of about three hundred miles, and from north 
to south its greatest breadth is about ono hundred 
and filty miles, with a superficial area of thirty thou- 
sand square miles. Its Indian name, llayli, mcan- 
iuR mountainous, indicates the moststriliing feature 
in its physical conformation, tho most elevated points 
rising to the height of aboutsis thousand feet above 
tho surrounding ocean. Tho hilly region is, how- 
ever, interjected with numerous valleys, where tho 



fertile character of the soil and a genial clinaate 
produce an exuberance of the most valuable and 
diversified vegetation. In other parts of the island 
extensive natural meadows or savannahs appear, 
which furnish an abundant provision for large quan- 
tities of cattle and horses. San Domingo is, in gen- 
eral, well watered by numerous rivers, which pen- 
etrate into the interior and add to tho productive 
capacities of a soil of unsurii.assed fertility. The 
irregular character of the surfice and the greater 
or less distance from the oee.an occasion consider- 
able diversiliesof climate, varying from thcopprcss- 
ivo tropical heat, which, combined with a humid 
atmosphere, renders some parts iicculiarly obnox- 
ious to tho vomito or yellow fuver, to the elevated 
mountain ridges, where the cold is sometimes found 
to be unplcasftnt to those habituated to the more 
enervating influences of the tropics. Tho excessive 
heal, which would otherwise be insupportable, of 
the sea-board is, however, delightfully tempered by 
the sea breeze, which regularly, at ten o'clock a; m., 
lends its refreshing influences to the weary and 
exhausted sufferers. 

" Under such propltiouscircumstances, as may read- 
ily bo supposed, the vegetable products of the island 
arc as abundant as they arc diversified in character. 
Almost all the productions of the tropical and tem- 
perate zones find a genial soil and climate in some 
part of its various region?. The sugar-cane, cotton, 
tobacco, rice, and cocoa are grown in great abun- 
dance; while the plantain, vanilla, potato, and other 
minor articlcsarc indigenous to thesoil. The mount- 
ains are covered with valuable timber, among which 
aro especially to bo noticed the mahogany, satin- 
wood, live-oak, and other useful descriptions of 
tree. 

" Nor arc the mineral riches of this island lees im- 
portant. It is v.'cll known that from tho period of 
its discovery by the Spaniards large quantities of 
gold have been extracted from the soil, chiefly, how- 
ever, by washing from tho hills. It is known that 
there also exists the most copious supplies of copper, 
coal, rock-salt, iron ore, uitcr, and other valuable 
minerals. These, however, o^vins to the distracted 
state of the country, have been imi)erfectly developed. 

"This magniflecut island, upon which aature has 
lavished her choicest treasures witli a profuse hand, 
has, however, been tho victim of all the misery which 
man can iuflict upon his brother man. It was occu- 
pied by the divided authority of Franco and Spain, 
tho former possessing tho western portion and the 
l.itter tho eastern part &f tho island, while the lino 
of dcraarkation between them was irregular, extend- 
ing in a northerly and Fouthwardly course across it. 
The part belonging to Spain extended over rather a 
greater extent of superflces than that whioh apper- 
tained to France. 

"About tho year 17S9 the island had perhaps at- 
tained its highest condition of prosperity, and its ex- 
ports were then deemed more abundant and more 
valuable than those of Cuba. At that period broke 
out those devastating intestine cuiumotious which 
spread horror and misery over this unfortunate 



\ 



1 9 



region, marked by traits of ferocity and a depth of 
human suffering rarely equaled and never surpassed. 
The black population of the French moiety of the 
island rose in insurrection against their masters; a 
servile war raged vrith all its terrors. Armies, the 
pride and boast of France, were annihilated by the 
combined influenccsof war and climate; the negroes 
established their ascendency, and the independency 
of the Haytian republic was finally recognized by 
the French monarch in 1S2'>, in consideration of a 
large pecuniary indemnity, payable to the former 
proprietors of the soil. 

"Itis,however, to be remarked, what cat) not indeed 
be readily understood and has notbeen satisfactorily 
explained, so far as my information extends, that 
although the political authority of the blacks had 
been extended as early 331821 over the Spanish por- 
tion of the island, so that it was wholly subjugated 
to their sway, yet this recognition of independence 
by France is in terms restricted to the French part 
of the island, 

"This extension of the black authority continued 
without intermission until the opening of the year 
1844, when the inhabitants of the Spanish portion of 
the island raised the standard of revolt, threw off the 
ignominious yoke which had been imposed by the 
authorities of Ilayti, and declared their independ- 
ence. The republic of Dominica was then consti- 
tuted. Since that period the war between the two 
parties has been continued, but the new community 
has thus far successfully maintained its independ- 
ence, has organized a regular form of government, 
established a written fundamental constitution based 
upon republican principles, and holds out the best 
founded prospects of triumphing in the contest, even 
to the extent of extending its authority throughout 
the entire island. 

"Such was the origin, and in brief such the present 
position of the new republic, to which I have had 
the honor of being commissioned. 

"The territories of the republic arc those which 
formerly belonged to Spain, and constitute about a 
moiety of the island, whether we estimate the ex- 
tent of country, the character of the soil, and gener- 
ally the sources of wealth. The population consists 
of about two hundred and thirty thousand, of whom 
forty thousand are blacks, and over one hundred 
thousand are whites." 

Such, Mr. Speaker, is San Domingo, the 
true Queen of the Antilles, and such is the sad 
story of her people. Her natural wealth is 
boundless, and infinite in its variety. It is also 
exhaustless, for its sources are perennial ; yet 
her impoverished and decimated people live 
in dread uncertainty, which, like the shadow 
of impending death, precludes exertion for 
the future. In view of her resources and her 
many bays and harbors, she should be the 
center of a wo; Id- wide and busy commerce; I 



but her bays and harbors are rarely shadowed 
by a sail, and a single steamer, the Tybee, vis- 
iting her ports but once a month, suffices for 
the greater part of her trade and communica- 
tion with the great commercial Republic whose 
immediate neighbor she is. From the depths 
of their despair the people of the republic 
of Dominica implore us to remove the dread 
shadow under which they live, expose her 
wealth to view, and cause it to be applied to 
the uses of mankind. Moved by their appeal, 
and instructed by the action of all his really 
great predecessors, the President proposes to 
the country to bless them and the world by 
granting their prayer ; and for this be is assailed 
by the puny and short sighted leaders of the 
Democratic party. Against their assaults I 
will not pause to defend him. He has vindi- 
cated to the world and history the singleness 
and rectitude of his purposes by the selection 
of Benjamin F. Wade, Andrew D. White, and 
Samuel G. Howe, as commissioners to make 
the inquiries ordered by Congress. Truer men 
than these he could not have named, nor men 
more free from the suspicion of liability to- 
corrupt or sinister influences; and President 
Grant may well express a willingness to abide 
the result of their investigations, confident tha^ 
it will justify all that he has done, and result 
in adding the tropical wealth of San Domingo 
to the mighty resources of the United States^ 
and in the revival and expansion of our lan- 
guishing commerce. 

From among many communications con- 
firming the foregoing statements I fill what 
would otherwise be blank space with the fol- 
lowing from an esteemed constituent: 

1723 Mount Veknon Street, 
Philadelphia, January 28, 1871. 
Dkak Sir : I have just finished the perusalof your 
very able speech in support of the acquisition of San 
Domingo. Having been years ago engaged in com- 
mercial relations with many ports of that island, and 
selling its various productions, besides visiting it 
twice, I thought I would add my testimony to all 
you have said as to the very great advantages that 
would inure to this country by its annexation. My 
uncle, Henry Wilson, at Baltimore, was agent there 
for the Emperor Christophc ; and the consignments of 
sugar and molasses then were very heavy. I estab- 
lished at Cape Hayticn in 1841 a branch house, and 
shortly after, on a visit, I wa.s informed reliably that 



14 



daring tlio French occupation and jjr.rl of Clni. - | 
toplie's reign as many ns ciglity l.trgcsnil of vessels | 
could often bo seen lyins in tlic Ciiicjiaffc. oi)poRile i 
C:ipc Ilnyticn, then called Capo Fi-anfois, awaiting j 
their cnrpocs ufsucar. niola^sc!', and coITeOiite. Tlio i 
forincr were the leadiiiR articles of export, but were i 
go ncplcctrd r.ftcrwiird that from 1811 to 18IG 1 ."cnt ; 
thitlicr in every carpro an invoice of Lovorins <fc Co. 's | 
refined ."■ucars ! San Dorainfjo coffee was formerly the 
most esteemed of any (except Mocha) in Europe ; but 
in the decay if agriculture, and from want of proper 
attention to its picking, and fraud in mixing small 
s-toneswith it. itboeamefuftcr triapo) the lowest Krade 
in'thc markcl.-i. Our house paid particular .ittcntion 
to its fclcction, and tlio brand of " II. AV. k Co." was 
widely known, and brought much higher prices in i 
conscqupncc. When under American cultivators the 
article will return to its pristine rank, and the cul- 
tivation of the eano will be resumed, which requires 
capital, which the Haytians do not possess. I speak 
of llayti in connection with Iho San Domingo ques- 
tion, beeauie I feel satisfied its people will gladly fol- 
low the e:campli' of theirneiglibors of San Domingo, 
and become Americans. The most valuable logwood 
and fustic come from the east and north. The fruits 
cannot bo surpa-ssed. Their oranges and pine-apples 
are infinitely better than those of the Bahamas and 
fully equal to those of Cuba. I traded with Puerto 
Plat.a forsonie years, andfrom thence received entire 
cargoes of leaf tobacco, which was particularly 
esteemed for wrappory use, being rot only full- 
flavored, but of a much larger size than that of Culia; 
Fome invoices were fully equal to the famous Yalta 
do Abajo, of Cuba. This trade fell off on account 
of not being able to compete, with duties, itc, with 
the then growing interest of Connecticut and Penn- 
sylvania leaf fur wrappers. This trade would cer- 
tainly return with annexation. Cocoa was also re- 
ceived in moderate quantities, and a strong red 



013 789 109 8 * 

pepper. Honey and wax wouli liavc cumo hero 
more largely, but Franco offered better markets. 
From tho city of St. Domingo I used to receive three 
or four cargoes per annum of the most valuable ma- 
hogiiny, in logs and crotches, but tho introduction 
of walnut (instead) in furniture affected this trade; 
but fashion is ever varying, and we could place our 
hand on the source of supply when needed. From 
Cape llayticn to far beyond Samana the climate is 
as salubrious as any in tho world. The land breeze 
at night comes from tho high mountains free from 
miasrna,(aaHt Port au Prince,) and the sea breeze by 
day brings with it from the ocean invigoration and 
health. Gold, silver, and copper abound in tho 
mountains of San Domingo, and for many years 
English cai)ital has been employed in copper-smelt- 
ing. Rich and beautiful valleys of great extent spread 
themselves at tho foot of tliese mountains, and rail- 
road communication could thereby link together the 
extremes of the island. You have well termed it the 
"Queen of the Antilles." It is more valuable in its 
resources than Cuba, and Americans will develop 
these. It is offered to us fur "a mere song," andlfeel 
confident that after the return of the commissioners 
their report will be so favorable and alluring to emi- 
grants that our people will applaud and appreciate 
tho wi3dom of the President and his supporters in 
their efforts to add this prize to their domain. The 
decay of trade and falling off of exports, especially 
in Ilayti proper, is attributable alono to bad govern- 
mcnt and its sequence, depreciated currency. In 
1S41 paper was worth S2 50 for oncdidlar in gold ; now 
it is SI, 000 for ono dollar in gold, I believe. The 
fruit may be v,'ilted,but the germ is there intact, and 
as capable as formerly. 

Ilopingyou will excuse the crudity of these hastily 
penned lines, I am, most respectfully, youi-s, 

HENRY -W. ANDREWS, 
lion. William D. Kkllf.y, Washinglon. D. C. 



mill iiiiiiiiimtiiiiii 

013 7891098 % 



peRnulipe* 
pH8^ 



